Once everyone was seated and the apprehensive first years ushered in, the sorting hat was brought out. Everyone expectantly stared at it when its brim opened up to sing:
Oh you may think I’m ancient, you may think I’m old
Wrinkled, barren of knowledge, worn and torn
But truly is mine, the ancient decide
Of the four noble houses you’ll form
Gryffindor, brave and true
Lived for daring, I warn you
Valued the fearless valiant
Over those who forebode
Ravenclaw, wit and smarts
Cherished shrewdness through and through
Held the brainy scholar
In highest rank and honor
Hufflepuff, gentle and kind
Benevolent, tranquil, benign
Treasured as companions
Those peaceful and wise
Slytherin, slippery snake
Strove to impose the supremacy strain
Solicited only stalwart supporters
Seldom sought a sundry affair
In these houses, I will sort
Though I wish, it were not so
The job created for
I will perform
Tread careful, for I decide
Your abode, forevermore
Unless! You unite
Hogwarts! I implore
Lest you be lost!
Splintered, shattered, forlorn
Hogwarts!
Come together once more!
As soon as it began it was over. Never had the sorting hat sung such a short song. Harry smiled in amusement at everyone’s stunned faces. Last year the sorting hat had given them a warning, albeit not quite so dire, yet it seemed that most students had forgotten it. Now the sorting hat didn’t even want to do the job it was created to do! Could Harry come together with the Slytherin’s? That was highly unlikely. Irregardless of the advice the sorting hat gave, he fully intended to separate from those 'slippery snakes'.
When “Anvil, Terrance” took a seat on the stool Harry’s mind began to wonder. He took himself out of his ominous mentality and concentrated on formulating a plan. Voldemort was now positioning his pieces: deatheaters, dementors and giants. Harry cursed; he really shouldn’t have ducked out on Ron and Hermione. He needed Ron’s chess abilities or Hermione’s cleverness now. He unfurled the paper that Draco had hurled at him earlier and read:
Riots broke out in front of the Ministry of Magic when the Daily Prophet broke news of the escape of no less than five of you-know-who’s biggest supporters. “With the departure of the dementors it was really only a matter of time,” an unnamed source at the Ministry revealed. Apparently all that was left to bind the prisoners once the dementors were gone was a bit of ancient magic. Ministry guards, though present, were derelict in their duties allowing an imprisoned deatheater to acquire a wand, an unnamed guard divulged, “Once he stole the wand that was it.”
Using the stolen wand the deatheater was able to secure other wands for his fellow inmates by means of the expelliaramous charm. Thereupon a battle between the guards and prisoners ensued in which two ministry guards were brutally murdered through the use of unforgivable curses. Their murderers were among those who escaped. Aurors arrived on the scene in time to subdue the remaining prisoners but several deatheaters could not be accounted for. “We are doing our best to bring these criminals back to justice,” a Ministry spokesperson said when asked to comment about the whereabouts of the deatheaters.
Still, the Ministry’s reluctance in revealing the identities of the escaped prisoners is alarming. “The public has a right to know,” Paddy Dadcock of number 3 Flushing Meadows insists, “How are we to trust the Ministry?” Indeed, how can the ministry be trusted when they refuse to disclose information needed to ensure public safety? Perhaps now that the new Minister of Magic has been sworn in (earlier this morning) we will get answers from the Ministry in these perplexing times.
Harry felt the panic within him rise as thoughts of the terror the escaped deatheaters could reap flourished in his too active imagination but fought against it. Gryffindors were not those who 'forebode' as the sorting hat had reminded him only minutes earlier. He sat pondering over every half-baked plan that came to him, each more ludicrous than the last. As those around him began to applaud more heartily Harry refocused his attention to Dumbledore who was now directing Filch to take the sorting hat away. He let his eyes trail across the teachers as they politely applauded along with the students.
The hairs on the back of his neck rose as his eyes settled on Snape. No one would be happier about Sirius’ death than Severus Snape. They had been sworn enemies forced to work for the same team. It was undoubtedly Snape’s taunts that had pushed Sirius into disobeying Dumbledore and leaving Grimmauld Place the night he was killed. His eyes stung as he stared unblinkingly at Snape. A surge of hatred washed over him. Somehow, Snape would pay. For his own sanity, Harry moved his eyes off of Snape and they fell onto Tonks. Her eyes lit up when the food appeared on the table and she turned to speak to Charlie.
Charlie? Harry rubbed his eyes to ensure that they were not playing tricks on him. When he checked again Charlie and Tonks were laughing while heaping loads of food onto their plates. Why was Charlie sitting at the head table? As he quickly scanned the teachers he realized something was wrong. Where was Hagrid? His head began to spin again as his confusion grew. He once again kicked himself for ducking out on his friends. Ron would know what was going on.
He leapt into the air, startled, when a hand rested upon his shoulder.
“Ginny you scared me half to death!”
“Sorry,” she grinned abashedly. “You look lost,” she commented as she summoned a chair to join him.
“I was just…confused,” Harry responded looking desolate.
“What’s on your mind?” she ventured hesitantly.
Halfway through his explanation about ducking out on Ron, Harry realized that Ginny was also a Weasley and smacked himself on the forehead.
“Right,” Harry collected his thoughts, “What’s Charlie doing here?”
Ginny smiled patiently, “Taking over Care of Magical Creatures for a bit.”
“Why?” he asked, “Where’s Hagrid?”
As she leaned in close to answer his questions he held his breath determined not to become a silly git over her perfume yet again.
“Hagrid’s on a mission for the order,” she whispered looking around before continuing, “Grubby-Plank retired and Dumbledore needed a semi-permanent replacement in case Hagrid decides not to come back.”
“WHAT!”
“Shhhhhh!” she chastised him as she smiled at the faces that were looking at them due to Harry’s outburst, “Keep it down!”
“What does that mean semi-permanent?” Harry hissed back at her.
“Well,” she looked a bit stand-offish, “In case Hagrid doesn’t return.”
“WHA…!!!”
With his second exclamation Ginny stuffed a turnip in his mouth and continued in the barest whisper, “If Hagrid manages to do the task Dumbledore’s assigned him, he will be much too busy to be bothered with teaching.”
“What task?” Harry whispered insistently while extracting the turnip from his mouth.
“Well, from my understanding,” Ginny pulled a set of extendable ears from her pocket and waved them with a meaningful look, “Hagrid and someone named Grawp have been sent after the Giants that haven’t joined you-know-who.”
“But what can they…?”
“They,” she cut in meaningfully, “Received word that the remaining giants have formed into a clan and are ready to be mobilized against their old oppressors.”
At Harry’s blank stare she clarified, “The big giants!”
“Shhhh!” it was now Harry’s turn to reprimand her, “That doesn’t explain the semi-permanent part.”
She looked cautiously around and leaned even closer, “If it all pans out, Hagrid will lead the giants in the war against you-know-who.”
Harry considered this thoughtfully, “Are Voldemort’s giants on the move?”
She looked as ominous as he felt, “That would be my guess.”
Harry took a moment to digest the information she had given him. He highly doubted that Ginny had gathered this info via the extendable ears which he had been utilizing to no great benefit but knew asking her how she had managed it would be pointless. She would tell him once she was ready. For now there were giants and rogue deatheaters to occupy his mind.
“Best to get some food before it’s all gone,” Ginny said as she began piling food on their respective plates.
He smiled. If he told her how much she reminded him of Mrs. Weasley in that instant she’d probably slug him, so he just smiled. He took a long whiff of her perfume and cast thoughts of Voldemort and his cronies aside. Ginny sat just as sassy and bossy as can be joking with her friends who had been saving the seat Harry had taken, for none other than Ginny. Comparing his hair to a mop sent her into a fit of laughter. He would have defended himself, or at least combed his hair if she hadn’t messed it up further with her hands.
Feeling her fingers running through his hair caused a pang in his heart. He was longing to be more than just her friend. He was so weak around her. Every time he swore that his stolen moments with Ginny were over, he’d steal some more. Here he was, again, sitting by her side and basking in her glow. He didn’t have the heart to laugh at her silly jokes. His heart was too busy wrenching over the thought of excluding Ginny from his life. Just one more night, he promised himself, one more night. Ginny cast him as peculiar glance as if she felt the turbulent emotions running through him in that moment.
“Hello, love!”
Not Dean, Harry prayed, not now.
But as he opened his eyes Dean came into focus. He didn’t want to see Dean hold Ginny or sit with Ginny or joke with Ginny. He didn’t want Dean with Ginny! Ginny was not looking at Dean however, she was looking dazedly at Harry. All at once she snapped her head up, jumped from her chair and strode away from a stunned Dean and a satisfied Harry.
“Having problems in the love department?” Harry innocently asked Dean before pulling a Ginny and marching away to join Ron and Hermione. Dean looking sorely put out as he stood gaping at Ginny’s back. Let him fret, Harry thought maliciously.
Stupid git.